Summary

In Chapter 17, they have TV dinners that night. Jo Ellen is not home but Franny is unable to get a few minutes to try to retrieve the key, lock the hope chest, and return the key to her mother's suitcase. In bed that night, she worries and pretends to write her letter to Khrushchev. The single line she comes up with is, “are you crazy?” (150). Mrs. Chapman is on the phone several times. Franny does not know where Jo Ellen is, and she is worried. Mrs. Chapman begins vacuuming the floor, then there is a sound and Mrs. Chapman cries out. When Franny reaches her mother, Mrs. Chapman says the vacuum must have blown a fuse or had a short. Franny sees that her mother is crying and they hug for a moment. Though nothing has been resolved, Franny is reassured.